


asphodel

by alonelyghost



Series: the kids arent alright [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 11:56:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17487614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alonelyghost/pseuds/alonelyghost
Summary: There are scars on Akira's arms, and Goro Akechi is very worried about it.





	asphodel

There are scars on Akira's arms. There are scars on Akira's arms that he makes no effort to hide, instead brazenly staring down anyone who so much as glances at them the wrong way - and, with scars like that, doesn't everyone? There are scars on Akira's arms and he won't answer any questions about them, but that's fine because there's nothing new appearing, except - there are a lot of places on the human body that do not tend to see the light of day.

There are scars on Akira's arms and Goro Akechi is very worried about it.

It's hard to say when he notices, or when Akira notices that he has noticed, but once he does he can't stop thinking about it. He supposes it'd be hard to, considering what happened to his mother, but it's not something he should be concerning himself with. He shouldn't be worried. There's no reason to worry for someone you intend on killing, except if maybe you're having second thoughts. He can't afford to have second thoughts.

He's having second thoughts.

Or, not really, since he still plans on taking down Shido. He's just wondering if he'll have to kill Akira to do it. Maybe if he - it's stupid that he's even thinking this way. He's never hesitated hefore, why start now?

(The answer to this, of course, is that there are scars on Akira's arms, and that has struck a chord somewhere.)

"I've stopped," Akira says once, when Akechi has asked for the nth time. "It was a bad time."

This does nothing to comfort him.

He doesn't miss the suspicious gazes of the Phantom Thieves every time he does anything regarding the leader, and he barely doesn't miss the bug on his phone, but he says nothing. He should say something. He should remove the bug, he should change the plan, he should -

He does nothing.

He will eventually have to deal with the downfall of whatever plan they've hatched, but he doesn't care. He should care. Shido is violent, Shido has power, Shido could make Akechi disappear without a second thought.

He doesn't care.

( _There are scars on Akira's arms_ , his brain says.)

( _I know_ , he responds.)

There are scars on Akira's arms and they are covered by the black of his metaverse attire, by the red of his gloves, and it is with great pain that Akechi remembers that wounds in the metaverse do not scar. Wounds in the metaverse fade. Wounds in the metaverse -

Wounds in the metaverse can be healed with a dia skill, disappearing as if they had never been there in the first place.

No one else seems to have come to this realization.

He hopes "no one else" includes Akira.

(It almost definitely does not include Akira.)

There are scars on Akira's arms, and they are old, months old, years old, but there is pain in Akira's eyes and Akechi thinks that the scars would be newer if some timeless beings hadn't decided upon them as the pawns in a fucked up game of chess.

(And that's what it has to be, right? Akechi and Akira - perfect opposites, two sides of the same coin - it's too perfect to pretend that coincidence has brought them to this fate.)

He should remove the bug on his phone.

He doesn't.

(He pretends he is surprised when he sees them in Shido's palace. He doesn't ask how they did it.)

(He probably should've asked, to satiate his own curiosity, he realizes as he drops the wall down in front of them and looks into his own ruthless eyes.)

**Author's Note:**

> according to wikipedia, the flower meaning of asphodel is "my regrets follow you to the grave."


End file.
